1. The histologic and molecular correlates of liver disease in fatal COVID-19 including with alcohol use disorder
- Author
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Nuovo, Gerard J., Suster, David, Awad, Hamdy, Michaille, Jean-Jacques, and Tili, Esmerina
- Subjects
Male ,Liver Diseases ,COVID-19 ,Original Contribution ,General Medicine ,Spike protein ,Middle Aged ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,Alcoholism ,Mice ,Liver ,Hepatic stellate cells ,Animals ,Humans ,Female ,Alcohol liver disease ,Aged - Abstract
Hepatic disease is common in severe COVID-19. This study compared the histologic/molecular findings in the liver in fatal COVID-19 (n = 9) and age-matched normal controls (n = 9); three of the fatal COVID-19 livers had pre-existing alcohol use disorder (AUD). Controls showed a high resident population of sinusoidal macrophages that had variable ACE2 expression. Histologic findings in the cases included periportal/lobular inflammation. SARS-CoV2 RNA and nucleocapsid protein were detected in situ in 2/9 COVID-19 livers in low amounts. In 9/9 cases, there was ample in situ SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that co-localized with viral matrix and envelope proteins. The number of cells positive for spike/100× field was significantly greater in the AUD/COVID-19 cases (mean 5.9) versus the non-AUD/COVID-19 cases (mean 0.4, p
- Published
- 2022